PowerBase – PS Audio’s power plinth

HERE’S a curveball – a power conditioner AND an isolation base in a single product? Yup, we thought that would pique your audiophile senses. We can’t claim credit for it, though, because PS Audio has got there first with its just-announced PerfectWave PowerBase.

It’s all all-new product category, says the Boulder, Colorado-based company, and addresses the need for vibration control as well as cleaner power, in one neat package. No need for cones, spikes and so forth, the PowerBase is a holistic, two-in-one solution.

The PowerBase has high durometer Sorbothane feet attached to its steel chassis – this first level of energy dissipation is tuned to 30Hz. Mounted inside the base chassis is the second level, tuned to 3Hz, and comprising low durometer Sorbothane feet supporting a 9kg platform made of 6mm steel. The equipment is placed on this.

PS Audio says this combination of a soft-suspension high-mass platform with a stiff suspension low-mass body results in a broad spectrum mechanical energy dissipation system which reduces “induced surface vibrations from the loudspeakers.”

The company also describes another factor of the PowerBase’s vibration dissipation system called “masking”. According to its statement, the “PowerBase can dissipate a broad spectrum of energy sent through solid surfaces but equipment is still exposed to airborne vibrations, a problem the PowerBase addresses by masking techniques similar to dither.

“Masking is a simple system of adding back randomised noise to the signal in much the same way room diffusors work. The system is engineered to couple the diffused mechanical energy of the platform back into equipment, helping mask any airborne vibrations picked up by the stereo system.”

Finally, one-way gate filtering is provided. This comprises a low-loss power filter that reduces both differential and common mode noise in the home’s AC supply as well as that generated inside the equipment powered by the product.

The PowerBase measures 432 x 356 x 131mm (w/d/h), weighs a shade over 11kg and has a voltage range of 90V to 280V. It is made in Boulder and starts shipping in January 2013 at a suggested retail price of US$995.